For Christmas this year, we headed to the Jones house in Bakersfield, California. It was fantastic. However, I didn’t take ANY pictures. Not one, except the one above. Highway 58 was closed down on both sides due to a major accident, so we took the legendary Route 66 (my first time!) and headed the long way around instead. Upon discovering this cute little community called Silver Lakes, I made Tyler pull over and took a snapshot. Their entire community has lakeside property; it reminded me of Venice, Italy. Each house has a small backyard and a pier that they can tie their boats up to, and drive out to the larger lake on the other side of the community. How neat is that? I have a strange desire to retire here…at Silver Lakes, in the middle of nowhere. How fun.

As for Christmas, we thoroughly enjoyed staying at the Joneses. (On the way to their house, we stopped in Circleville and stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Roberts’ house, which was neat. Their ward Christmas party was definitely one we’ll never forget!) In California, Tyler’s parents are so kind and generous to us. :) The weather was great! We played tennis, made cookies, played Wii, and relaxed. We really had a fun time, and were glad we didn’t hit bad weather (i.e., a snowstorm) either way.

Tyler got me several books for Christmas: the Betty Crocker Cookbook (SO wonderful and easy!), The Time Traveler’s Wife (excellent so far…I’m almost done!), and Three Cups of Tea. I love reading. :) I also got new scriptures with my married name on them. I feel all official!

Tyler got a bluetooth headset, a slick, new light-up keyboard, and a french-fry cutter. His parents got us a nice, big roasting oven and a 3-in-1 air compressor/jumpstarter/battery charger for our car. I suspect that will definitely come in handy one of these days, judging by the history of our car!

We’re glad we were kept safe this Christmas season, and hope all of you enjoyed yourselves as much as we did!

Oh, and p.s.
Our fish, Jamal, died. Sorry Logan. He literally froze in our house when we were gone.